Stealing Moments
by Mrs. Otori
Summary: A collection of moments in the life of Percy and Annabeth Jackson, long after their monster-fighting days are over... for the most part anyway. Now, they learn to conquer the monsters that come with everyday life. "Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."
1. Chapter 1

**And So It Begins**

**Percy**

Annabeth had been acting completely un-Annabeth-like that night. In fact, when Percy thought about it, she'd been different all day. She'd come home late from work with no explanation, just flitted in, pecked Percy on the cheek, then flew down the hall to their bedroom before he had even had the chance to ask what had kept her. Even more abnormal, when Percy had tried to follow her, _the door had been locked_. It had been so shocking that he didn't even attempt to ask her to let him in, just drifted back to the kitchen and continued preparing dinner, feeling like the vegetables he was chopping.

Not long after, Annabeth had emerged as if nothing was wrong or different at all, which just confused Percy more. He tried not to feel insulted when she nudged his pasta and steamed vegetable around her plate instead of eating them.

"Is something wrong?" he finally asked, unable to contain it any longer.

Annabeth looked up from her plate and, for a moment, Percy thought he saw anxiety in her stormy eyes, but she smiled, and the moment passed. "Nothing, I'm just not all that hungry," she said.

Percy wasn't convinced. "What held you up at work tonight?" he pressed. "You missed _Jeopardy_."

Annabeth pushed her food around her plate a little more. "I was just overlooking the codes for the new building going up in the town square. Took me a little longer than I thought. How was _Jeopardy_?" she asked with a weak smile.

Even though she tried, Percy knew always loved steamed veggies and devoured her dinner when she got home from work, especially if the day had been long. The dinner table was usually filled with her voice chattering about plans Percy never understood a word of, but tonight she had barely said anything. Her face was flushed and her eyes avoided him as much as possible.

"It was good," Percy finally answered reluctantly, not wanting to change subjects so quickly. "There was a category on fishing so I might have been able to beat you this time."

Annabeth smirked halfheartedly, her eyes flicking past Percy to the hallway leading to the bedroom. "Sorry I missed that," she muttered, then stood. "I'm so tired tonight. I know it's my turn, but could you start the dishes? I just want to go to bed."

"Only if you make it up to me," Percy said with a smirk.

As she passed by his chair, he reached up to pinch her, but Annabeth had his wrist locked in her expert grip before he even got close. He made a strangled noise of surprise and looked into her face. Her grey eyes were burning and narrow, and her grip on his hand tightened.

Then, as quickly as she had grabbed him, Annabeth released Percy's wrist. "Just tired, Percy," she said with a clipped tone, then walked quickly down the hall.

Percy waited in a state of shock as he heard their bedroom door close and the inexplicable sound of the lock turning into place. As long as they had lived together, five years now, Annabeth had never reacted with such anger at Percy's advances. Sure, he knew he could be annoying sometimes, but she'd never just grabbed him before. And she rarely locked him out of their room, and only when he'd really screwed up with, as far as he knew, he hadn't.

Maybe that was the problem, Percy suddenly thought as he gathered the dishes and scraped the leftovers into a container. What if he had done something to upset her without realizing it? If that was the case, he had absolutely no idea what it could be. What was the date? November 20th, right? Their anniversary wasn't for another few months, so that couldn't be it. Birthdays in the Summer, so he hadn't forgotten any of those either. He'd cooked on his days and done the dishes when he was supposed to … had he stolen the covers last night or something?

The more Percy thought racked his brain for things he could have possibly screwed up, the more he felt sick to his stomach. He was so distracted that he nearly scrubbed a hole in the plate he was washing.

Finally, when he couldn't take it any longer, Percy decided that whatever it was, he would just march back there and beg for forgiveness. He would get down on his knees and plead through the door if he had to, anything until Annabeth accepted or slapped him - or both.

He marched up to the door and knocked tentatively. "Annabeth?" he called softly.

"It's open."

Percy turned the knob slowly and entered the empty room. Light shone from under the master bathroom door, which he guessed would be locked, so her breathed a momentary sigh of relief. Percy began to undress, swapping his worn work jeans and t-shirt for sweatpants and a familiar old orange shirt, and waited for Annabeth to emerge from the bathroom.

When that took too long, Percy slowly padded toward the door. "Annabeth… what's wrong?" he pleaded.

"Nothing, Percy. I'll be out in a minute."

"Could you be honest with me, please?"

"I am! Nothing's wrong."

"After three years being married to you, I think I can tell when something's up. You've been acting differently for days now."

"Things change, Percy."

The words were like stabbing an ice pick into Percy's already nervous heart. What did that mean, things change? How much change was she talking about here? He tried to keep from panicking.

"Annabeth…" Percy swallowed past the lump in his throat and leaned against the door, resting his forehead against the smooth, cool wood. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I- I don't even know what I did wrong- but I'll fix it! I promise. Just please, tell me whatever I did-"

Suddenly, the door vanished from in front of him, throwing his balance off completely. Percy pitched forward, sprawling across the floor of their tiny master bathroom. He rolled onto his back, wincing from the pain in his knee that had smacked the tile on his way down.

Annabeth was leaning over him, amusement sparkling in her grey eyes. "What are you babbling about?" she asked.

"You keep saying everything's fine, but I know I've screwed something up," Percy started explaining quickly. "Just tell me what I need to do to fix it and I will, I swear. Whatever it is I'm sorry and-"

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at him. "Alright, you got me. You sure screwed up all right. But you won't be able to make this go away as easily as you think."

Percy's stomach sank to his knees.

"In fact," she continued, "you won't be able to get rid of this for _years_."

"Wh-what?" He messed up pretty badly sometimes, but Annabeth had forgiven Percy for hitting her car within a couple of days. What could he have done that would take years to rectify?

"Yes, Percy Jackson, _years_." Annabeth shook her head in disappointment. "In fact, about eighteen years to be exact."

Eighteen years! "What did I do! Wha-what's this?" Annabeth had handed Percy a small, white stick, a purple cap at one end, a viewing window in the middle, but he wasn't paying attention to this. He just wanted to know what he could have done wrong. "Annabeth, please just- What are you pointing at? What does this have to do with what I did? Just tell me- what? Wait, what does this little plus sign thing mean?"

Annabeth was shaking with laughter she was trying to hold in now, her hand over her mouth, her eyes crinkling at the corners. It suddenly dawned on Percy what this all meant.

His mouth fell open. "He looked from his wife's face to the plus sign and back again. "Oh, gods," he exclaimed. "You mean- Oh my GODS!" He threw his arms around Annabeth's shoulders and hugged her tightly as her laughter burst forth. "You- I'm going to be- you are-!"

"Yes, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth laughed. "We're going to have a baby. Ew, that sounds weird."

Percy grasped both sides of her face and kissed her lips, which was difficult with a smile so big his cheeks were aching. He pulled back and shook his head. "No," he said. "It sounds beautiful. We're going to have a _baby_!" He laughed and kissed her again. "I can't wait!"

Annabeth blinked rapidly and smiled at Percy warmly. "Me too."

"Wait," Percy said suddenly, his face dropping. "So you _aren't_ mad at me for this?"

Annabeth smacked him in the arm and laughed. "No, Seaweed Brain. I'm happy!"

Percy rubbed his biceps and smiled sheepishly. "So am I. I feel like I might throw up though."

"Me too."


	2. Christmas

**Christmas**

**Percy**

It was incredible how so much could change so quickly, yet still remain the same. Percy and Annabeth still went about their lives: going to work every day, taking turns with dinner and dishes, watching television in the evenings together. While all of this remained unchanged, everything still felt different in an indescribable way. There was a charge in the air, a heaviness that settled around them like a content fog. Percy couldn't explain how, but he found himself smiling for no reason at times.

Annabeth changed, too. It was subtle, but still an evident change in her behavior. Sometimes, Percy would find her sitting on the couch, the TV screen dark, an open book on her lap, but her eyes would be focused on some place far in the distance, a faint smile on her lips. She was so peaceful like this, Percy would simply stand and watch her for a moment before quietly retreating, feeling as if he'd somehow disturbed a private moment between her and some invisible person.

Two weeks had passed since the news that had enacted this change, and still Percy and Annabeth were the only ones that knew. The first thing he had done was grab the phone and call his mom in New York, but Annabeth had stopped him.

"Let's wait," she said, snatching the phone from his hand. "I want to do it all at one time. I don't want to make a hundred Iris-Messages and phone calls and have it spread, I want ust to be the ones that say it, and in person."

Percy groaned and frowned. "How are you going to manage that? It would be a little suspicious if we just suddenly called everyone in from across the country to have dinner. Not to mention expensive."

Annabeth gave him a knowing smile. "Easy. Christmas dinner."

It was agonizing to wait another three weeks until the dinner.

Everytime Percy saw saw Frank, Hazel, or even Nico around New Rome, the onlyu thing on is mind was _babybabybabybabyPregnantbabybabybabyMombabybabyDadbabybabybaby - _He could barely function. Not even the docks could hold his attention when all he wanted to do was blurt out the news to his coworkers. Instead, he tried to distract himself by inspecting the ships, and when that failed, he mostly sailed.

Alone on his small sailboat, Percy was free to think about his child as much as he wanted. It had taken him four years to build _the Promise_ from the time he he'd moved to New Rome, but Percy sailed it almost every day. When the day was especially hard, he took Annabeth on sunset sails, when the water turned to liquid fire and you couldn't tell where the sky ended and the bay began. Sometimes, Percy felt like they were sailing on a peaceful Phlegethon. It was on one of these sunsets that Percy had proposed to Annabeth. He had finished the _Promise_ and named it with these intentions, but the name had come to mean so much more.

Now, as Percy cut through the clear blue water, the sun beating down on his face, the spray of the ocean deflecting off his skin, his imagination took over.

_"Daddy, watch me!" his little girl cried with laughter,, her curly blonde hair flying past, a huge white tshirt whipping around her knees. Her smile revealed two missing front teeth and her grey eyes, almost blue, twinkled mischievously. She waved her hand and turned to the edge of the boat, then jumped, balling herself up, into the bay._

_ Percy laughed as she swam in circles with ease._

_ "Dad, what about this?" the little boy called from the bow._

_ Percy ruffled his black hair and reached around him, placing his hands gently over his boy's. "Just feel the ocean. She'll tell you what to do."_

_ The boy started to turn the wheel and laughed with excitement as the boat followed his will._

Although he felt foolish at first, Percy began to look forward to sailing with his imaginary children every day. They changed with his mood; sometimes the girl would look just like Sally when Percy felt homesick and missed his mother. Some days the boy would be blond, with calculation grey eyes, pretending to lead an armada of ships against the Titans.

No matter what form they took, they were always beautiful and Percy always loved them. He couldn't explain the immeasurable love he felt for children that didn't exist yet, but it was there. Despite the cold, as winter grew ever closer, he always sailed, just to spend the time alone with his thoughts, free to think about the baby no-one else knew about.

"Percy, did you set up the tables? There's a lot of people coming!"

The day had finally arrived; December 23, the night of the announcement. Percy tried not to roll his eyes at Annabeth's constant pestering, but it got harder as the preparations went on. He couldn't hold it against her too much though. Annabeth was so nervous she had thrown up twice that day already, which was actually abnormal for her, So far, she had been blessed with an absence of morning sickness and general cravings. She still had mood swings, but as far as Percy could tell, they weren't any worse than before she was pregnant.

"Yes, I set up the tables," Percy replied, trying to keep the exasperation from his voice. He tossed the salad as Annabeth hung Greek and Roman symbols from the tree. He was setting the creamed corn, stuffing, and blue potatoes (the dye just slipped!) in their warmers on the tables when the doorbell rang.

"They're here!" Annabeth cried, scampering into the dining room. "How do I look?"

Her blonde hair was curled to perfection, half of it piled in a bun atop her head, half of the ringlets cascading down her her back, spilling over her shoulders and framing her face. She wore a ruffled, sparkling red blouse that flowed over her stomach (she insisted she was starting to show, despite Percy constantly telling her not to worry about it. of course, she ignored him) and dark dress pants. Her silver owl earrings dangled, glittering from her ears, beautiful as always, but her grey eyes were clouded with worry.

Percy brushed a curl over her shoulder and kissed her. The clouds parted slightly, but there were still signs of rain. "You look beautiful. Let's not keep them waiting."

Hazel, Frank, and Nico were the first to arrive.

Coming from the 1940s, punctuality was important to her, and her boys wouldn't dare make her late. Hazel was dressed in a beautiful festive red dress, a decorative holly cluster pinning her cinnamon hair behind her ear. Frank was donned in a dark green turtleneck, a matching holly pin on his chest. Even Nico wore the identical holly, but that was the only festive thing about the 22-year-old. Otherwise he was clad in dark skinny jeans and a black t-shirt that read HO HO HO across the chest in bold, white letters. Some things never changed.

The men shook hands, Annabeth hugged each of them, and Hazel embraced Percy warmly. "Thank you so much for inviting us over," she said with a smile as they settled onto the couch and chairs in the small living room.

"It'll be good to see the others again, too," Frank said, reaching an arm around his wife.

"Without all the monster attacks, that is," Nico added.

The group nodded in ascension and began shooting stories back and forth about the 'glory days,' laughing and joking, until the doorbell rang again.

Piper and Jason Grace were next to arrive, looking like the beautiful power couple they were. Well, the power couple they planned to be, anyway. Piper wore a stunning but simple red lace dress with a scooping neckline, a green satin belt around her waist, and a black blazer. Her dark hair was pulled back by braids that wove around her head loosely, gathering into a messy knot behind her head. She entered, arm in arm with her new husband, who looked like a CEO in his dark suit and slick blond hair, a deep red neck tie at his throat.

Percy welcomed them in, only to stand again quickly to answer the door once more.

Sally and Paul Blowfis were almost immediately bombarded by Percy's hug, enveloping them tightly. "It's so good to see you again," he said with a smile that hurt his cheeks, bringing his parents into the house. "How was your flight?"

"Long and torture on my back. Hello, Annabeth, dear," Sally said, kissing her daughter-in-law. "You look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you, Sally," Annabeth replied, blushing.

"We hoped to see you two on the plane," Paul added to Jason and Piper. "We haven't seen you since the wedding in July."

"Oh, I know," Piper agreed with a sheepish grin. "We've meant to visit since we got back from the honeymoon, it's just been so hectic."

"Piper's career is really taking off," Jason said proudly. "She's going to be the best lawyer on the East Coast."

Piper blushed. "That's an exaggeration," she said quickly.

Laughter filled the cozy room and the conversation turned to catching up on everyone's crazy lives. Piper and Jason had taken an earlier flight, which was why Paul and Sally hadn't seen them. They'd been in New Rome for nearly a week new, visiting their old friends and the camp Jason missed. They currently lived in New York, where Piper attended Law School and Jason managed an electric company. On weekends and during the Summer, they were counselors at Camp Half-Blood.

Hazel and Frank had remained, like Percy and Annabeth, in New Rome. Though he had retired from being praetor, Frank still attended and advised Senate meetings, when the campers needed the wisdom of peace when war seemed like the only option. When he wasn't being wise and teaching at Camp Jupiter, he and Hazel ran a small jewelry shop in New Rome, which had promise of taking off and entering the mortal world in a few years. Even Nico helped them at the shop, when not on call for Hades.

"Where in the world are Leo and Calypso?" Annabeth said irritably as the sun began to sink outside the window. "We should be starting soon."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a blinding light filled the room and with a pop, the missing couple were on the loveseat by the window. Leo lounged as though he had been there for hours, a glass of champagne in one hand and the other arm around Calypso, her white cotton dress flawless and draped across her shoulders. She sipped from her own flute and winked at Percy, and he tried to ignore the heat rising to his face.

"Fashionably late, as always," Leo answered Annabeth with a grin.

Paul nearly fell from his chair.

"Dramatic, as always is more accurate," Piper said, rolling her eyes, but almost immediately rushed to hug her old friend.

"Thanks for keeping everyone waiting," Hazel said in exasperation and a smile. "Everything's probably cold now."

Leo perked up. "I can fix that," he said, his fingers sparking.

"Everything's been kept in warmers," Percy hastily said, pointing his finger sternly at Leo. "You're not burning my house down today, Valdez."

Leo shrugged. "Catch somebody's drapes on fire _once_ and they never let you live it down. Alright! Let's get some grub."

As the party adjourned to the dining room, everyone taking their seats at the two round tables, Sally approached Percy.

"How is everything?" she asked quietly, her sea green eyes looking Percy up and down.

With her gaze searching him, Percy felt like a kid again, trying to keep something from his mother. He fidgeted uncomfortably, pulling at the collar of his cream-colored sweater. "Great, everything's great, Mom,." he said slowly. "It's great to see you and Paul again. I wish we could visit more often."

"Mmh," Sally answered, sitting beside Percy at the larger of the two tables. "Oh, Percy," she said softly, spotting the blue mashed potatoes.

Percy smiled and winked at her. "Old habits."

Dinner was agonizingly slow.

Percy enjoyed every minute of it, but was still slowly dying with each passing second. He thought he would be able to sustain himself better, but had forgotten to count his mother's ability to make him want to spill his guts.

They ate and chatted, the circular tables arranged so that they intersected and dishes could be passed to and from, and everyone could be included in conversations. The offering fire crackled warmly in the corner, a nice background to the multiple conversations that flowed through the room.

"Annabeth," Paul asked early on in the dinner. "I thought your parents lived in California still. Why aren't they joining us?"

Annabeth made a brief face that only Percy understood, then said "Matthew and Bobby are home from school. They thought travelling with them would be too expensive."

Paul coughed uncomfortably, most likely picking up on the sharpness in his daughter-in-law's tone. If only he knew what Percy did about the heated argument Annabeth had had with her father.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth," Piper added with a frown. She hesitated, then asked "And, um, Grover? I would have expected to see him here."

Now it was Percy's turn to make a face. "Juniper can't travel very far from her tree. Cross country trips aren't really an option."

It was no secret Percy missed his best friend, but he doubted anyone truly grasped just how much, besides maybe Annabeth. It had almost changed his mind about living in New Rome when he realized it would mean rarely seeing Grover at all. Percy hoped that when they were older and settled that they would be able to travel back to New York and Camp Half-Blood more often, but now that they were having a baby… suddenly Percy feared leaving their safe haven at all.

As conversation turned to less painful topics, Percy fell deeper into his thoughts. Despite his days imagining his child, he hadn't really thought about how much a baby would change his life, or what kind of life the child would lead. Monsters would be after it. A child of two powerful demigods? What could that possibly mean? Would they ever be safe? Not to mention they would always know about their ancestry, living in a city full of demigods and fauns and talking statues. Would that make them a bigger target for the hordes of evil that thought demigods were a tasty snackfood?

Well, they were sadly mistaken if they thought they'd be munching on _Percy's_ son.

"Percy," Annabeth hissed in his ear, making him jump. "Why are you scowling? It's almost time."

Percy blinked, shaking himself from his thoughts. His facial muscles ached like he had been frowning for a very long time, which he probably had been. He smiled at Annabeth, who looked rather pale, and took her hand in his. "Ready when you are."

"This was really delicious," Jason said.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his stomach. "Even though the potatoes look like mashed blueberries."

"Annabeth," Calypso added with a warm smile after shooting an annoyed glare at Leo. "This is the best dish I've had from a mortal."

Percy stifled a laugh as Annabeth raised an eyebrow. He knew it was supposed to be a compliment, but Calypso still had trouble when it came to dealing with mortals.

"Um, thanks," she said.

"I hope I still have room for dessert," Hazel added, to which Nico nodded. "Nico, you barely ate anything," she chided him in a hushed tone, but Percy still heard.

"I ate plenty," the son of Hades responded.

"Bring on the pie!" Leo grinned.

"Don't be rude," Piper shot at him.

Percy laughed, then felt Annabeth's hand around his elbow, pulling him to his feet. He realized that this was the moment they had all been waiting for. He tried to avoid looking at his mother, but stole a glance. She had a knowing smile on her face and winked at him, which befuddled Percy. She couldn't possibly know…

"Before dessert," Annabeth began, squeezing Percy's hand. She was clammy and cold, but still smiled. "Percy and I have an announcement."

"Everyone gets their own pie?"

"Shut up, Valdez," Frank said.

Percy chuckled and squeezed Annabeth's hand back. "No, Leo. Well, Annabeth might, since she's eating for two."

There was silence in the room for a moment, then everything exploded.

"Oh my gods!"

"Nice going, Jackson!"

"How sweet."

"Congrats, guys."

"What does this mean? Who is she eating for?"

"She's pregnant, Calypso."

"Oh!"

"We're going to be grandparents, Sally!"

"I told you."

"Congratulations!"

Percy and Annabeth were bombarded with hugs. Percy was surprised the tables weren't knocked over in the stampede. There were more congratulations and squeals of excitement, and so many questions that Percy couldn't make a single one out.

"Slow down, slow _down_! I can't hear any of you!" Percy laughed.

"When are you due?" Piper asked as everyone began to take their seats back.

"Not until next May sometime," Annabeth responded, her face a lovely shade of pink. Her smile was blinding, and Percy couldn't help but notice how beautiful and happy she looked. For the first time, he understood the expression of women glowing when they were pregnant. Annabeth glowed like Apollo's sun chariot.

"Oh, birthday sex then, Percy," Leo said with a wink.

Percy felt as hot as Apollo's sun chariot now. He avoided his parents' faces as Piper and Hazel yelled at Leo.

"Do you have any sonogram pictures?" Hazel asked excitedly, still shooting disapproving glances at Leo.

"Yes, actually." Annabeth stood to retrieve the tiny black and white photo. Her first appointment had been a few days after they had found out. When she wasn't around, Percy would sneak into the kitchen drawer where she kept it and just stare at the little sonogram- the first picture of his son or daughter.

Annabeth passed the picture around the table to plenty of "ooh"s and "aw"s and "what the heck is that?"s.

"When did you find out," Frank asked, turning the sonogram on its side and squinting.

"Couple of weeks ago. November 20th," Percy said.  
"That was a month ago!" Piper said.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Jason asked.

"Annabeth- and I wanted to have you all here together."

"So don't even think about telling Thalia." Annabeth frowned at Jason.

"I would never." He spread his hands innocently. "It's not like I can get a hold of her anyway. Artemis knows where she is these days. Tibet or something."

"Well, let's hope Iris has pity on us and puts us through," Percy said. "I'm going to get the dessert. If we're going to be interrogated, I need some pie."

"Percy," Annabeth said, handing him the sonogram. "Take this with you. I don't want it getting stained."

As he took the picture back to the kitchen, Percy found himself staring again. Sure, you couldn't really make out any human form, but he swore he could see a little hand waving. He gently ran his finger over the picture as he opened the drawer it had been in. For some reason, he stopped and instead grabbed a magnet from the drawer. Baby's first picture deserved to be on display.


End file.
